Horned Grebe

This, if I am not mistaken, is a juvenile horned grebe - but I am willing to learn something if it isn't.

See it bigger here

Today has been very hot - I went to get some shots of kingfishers, but I had to throw the towel in after 20 minutes as the sun was just too much ...

As I was waiting for the kingfishers - not far from the nest - I heard a crashing through the forest behind me - I turned around and was face to face with a huge coypu. We had a mini staring match and I won, Yay * punches air*
I don't know who was the most surprised, the coypu or me ...

I saw some kingfishers, but they are a bit of a way away, although the shots are not bad - I also had some really bad shots of blue breasts - ooh, err missus, nah, stop messin' abaht ... they are like robins but, yes, they have a shimmering blue front -beautiful birds.

The problem is that I have had a cold for the last two days, so I crept, quietly, into the forest, found a good place to sit, just under some trees and waited silently and patiently - then had a sneezing fit of 17 sneezes ... needless to say, anything from Marseille to Rochdale hot-footed it.

I've noticed too, that for the last few weeks, there has been no kites around - not one.
As I was leaving for home, I noticed some big black birds in the middle of a harvested field - not kites, but crows, then a huge bird wheeled, just in front of me, heading from the forest to the far lake and I am 99% sure that it was an osprey - they are so distinctive and it was coming from the lake.

I will be back tomorrow evening in the hope of confirming this and getting some pics.

Hope you are having a lovely Sunday - sniff!